artillery arc

Chapter 285 Intersection
Wang Zhong glanced at Lyudmila, who smiled and said: "Go quickly, you can't help if you stay here."

"Okay." Wang Zhong stepped forward and kissed her lips gently, then turned and nodded to the school officer who came from the Summer Palace.

Then the group quickly left the shooting scene.

Lyudmila watched him go, holding the long staff that the angel of St. Andrew had once carried.

----

The atmosphere in the summer palace seemed a bit tense. When the guards saw Wang Zhong's appearance, they all looked "as expected".

Wang Zhong was led all the way into the lounge, and then he saw a general in the room, standing by the window with a Coke in his hand, looking at the snowy scene outside.

The general originally raised his right hand, preparing to take a sip of Coke. When he heard Wang Zhong's footsteps, he maintained his posture of holding the Coke bottle and looked over sideways.

Wang Zhong saw the general's customary salute.

The general drank up the Coke in one gulp, put down the bottle, and returned the favor to Wang Zhong.

After both sides put down their hands, the general spoke: "Is it Lieutenant General Rokossov? I've heard his name for a long time."

Wang Zhong used the plug-in to look at the general's name and said, "General Gorky, I thought you were guarding Fort St. Andrew."

General Gorky: "The situation in Fort St. Andrew has stabilized. The enemy should not be able to launch a large-scale offensive until February next year. Our counterattack drove the enemy away from the edge of the glacial lake, so that the enemy's artillery could not threaten the ice." road over the lake.

“That’s all we can do at this stage.”

Wang Zhong: "At least the city has been saved for the time being."

"Yes. For the time being. The enemy can't attack us, and we can't drive the enemy away. The situation in Fort St. Andrew will not fundamentally improve until we receive sufficient reinforcements next year." General Gorky picked up another bottle He opened the Coke and took a sip.

Wang Zhong: "So you will come to report on your work?"

"No, the order given to me the day before yesterday told me to come back. It took me more than a day to leave the city and come by plane." General Gorky finished the Coke and put down the empty bottle, "I guess I was asked to clean up the mess of the Western Front. .Why did you come here?”

Wang Zhong: "I was called here this morning as soon as I got the news of the Plosen attack."

General Gorky: "What do you think of Prosin's attack?"

Wang Zhong: "I heard that the Pulosen people have regained some of their previously lost positions. If the enemy intends to surround and annihilate a large number of our troops in a pincer offensive, they will not bother to seize the jagged positions on the front.

"I judge that this is not a large-scale offensive, but just to gain a better position and prepare for a large-scale offensive next year."

General Gorky nodded: "Well, that makes sense. If the enemy has really regained a lot of the positions it lost before and 'leveled' the front line, it does not seem like a precursor to a large-scale attack."

General Gorky walked around the lounge twice and suddenly asked: "Lieutenant General Rokossov, where do you think the enemy will attack next year? Or the Yebao?"

Wang Zhong: "They attacked Yebao in order to end the war as soon as possible. Now this plan has been ruined. Even if they take Yebao, we will continue to resist. Although Yebao is the general intersection of all railway trunk lines in our country, there are still extreme High strategic value, but..."

In fact, Ant's railways rarely intersect. There are only three relatively large intersections in total. Agsukov has been occupied by Prosen. St. Andrew's Fort is now under siege by the enemy, and only Ye Fort is left. .

If Yebao Ant is lost, many railways will be cut off, so it cannot be said that there is no strategic significance for the enemy to occupy Yebao next year.

But investing so many troops for this goal may not be worth it.

Wang Zhong: "I think Proson may shift his strategic focus to the south next year. After taking the coastal fortress, he will go straight into the vast grasslands to seize iron ore, coal mines, rare metals and, most importantly, Kuba's oil."

General Gorky nodded: "Riding on the grassland is indeed very suitable for their mechanized army. The area around Yebao is not suitable because there are too many woods."

Vasily finally couldn't help but interjected: "Why do you two just say that you don't have a map?"

Wang Zhong and General Gorky stared at him together.

Wang Zhong: "Vasily, go and stay in the adjutant's lounge nearby."

"My adjutant is also there, you can chat with him." General Gorky agreed.

Vasily left angrily.

General Gorky: "Although we all judge this, there is no guarantee that Emperor Prosin will not continue to attack Yebao."

Wang Zhong: "Then let him come. This will be the burial place of Prosen's army. When they run out of fuel reserves, it's time for us to counterattack.

"No, I don't think Emperor Proson is so stupid. What he wants to ensure now is that the war can continue. He must get Kuba's oil. Moreover, we will be the ones who suffer after they take over the oil fields, although there are also the United States. support, but the United States itself also has to supply their huge army.”

As soon as Wang Zhong finished speaking, General Gorky said: "I heard that the United States is about to lose their main oil fields in Asia?"

Wang Zhong nodded: "Yes, the Borneo oil field is almost finished."

General Gorky was speechless: "It sounds like Kuba will be a key point that neither of us can give up in the next year."

Wang Zhong nodded.

At this time, the door opened, and the palace protocol officer came in and announced loudly: "General Gorky Konstantinovich, Lieutenant General Alexey Konstantinovich, please follow me!"

General Gorky: "I understand. Let's go, Lieutenant General Rokossov, it's our turn."

----

The palace etiquette officer directly led Wang Zhong and General Gorky into the venue of the imperial meeting.

As soon as Wang Zhong entered the door, he looked at the map and confirmed that the enemy was indeed retaking the positions occupied by the Western Front one by one, and then he breathed a sigh of relief. It's really not a large-scale attack.

At this time, General Gorky, who was walking in front, saluted Olga first.

Wang Zhong hurriedly followed.

Olga: "You two don't need to be polite. I called you here because I want to ask you about your judgment of the situation. The enemy just launched a counterattack before we launched the attack."

General Gorky glanced at Wang Zhong and made a "come here" gesture.

Wang Zhong did not refuse. He picked up a nearly two-meter long pole and started drawing on the map: "The enemy's counterattack only captured the previously lost positions and 'leveled' the entire front. This can save troops on the defensive front.

"I speculate that the next step is for the enemy to let the troops who have changed their defenses start to rest."

Olga's eyes widened: "So, this is not another large-scale offensive?"

Wang Zhong: "If it is a large-scale offensive, why seize these irrelevant positions? Direct a pincer offensive, break through our defense line and cut off our logistics, and we will give up these 'dog teeth' on the front line ourselves.

“But the enemy did not launch a pincer offensive, but evenly distributed counterattack forces on the front and launched attacks in multiple places.

"No, no, Your Majesty, this is not a large-scale attack."

Wang Zhong put down the two-meter long pole and gave the right to speak to General Gorky.

The general took over and said: "Although it is not a large-scale attack, if some of our people are frightened and the troops are shaken, the enemy may also turn to attack. The top priority is to stabilize the troops and tell them that this is not the enemy." large-scale attack.

"Then let most of the troops build defenses and rest in place to prepare for fighting again next year."

Olga nodded: "Okay, I understand. Admiral Turgenev!"

Turgenev stood up and picked up the order in front of him: "Now appoint General Gorky Konstantinovich to take over the position of commander of the Western Front. He will take office immediately to take thunderous actions to stabilize the morale of the army and the front."

Gorky saluted: "Promise to complete the task."

Wang Zhong was very curious at this time. He called General Gorky and Lieutenant General Rokossov together. There was no reason to give only General Gorky a new position.

Are you going to force me into the Western Front Army as Chief of Staff? The lieutenant general is indeed very suitable to be the chief of staff.

Don’t do that kind of thing! I don’t want to become a bald man like Pavlov!
Fortunately, General Turgenev continued: "Appoint Lieutenant General Alexey Konstantinovich as a special minister to His Majesty the Tsar to go to the Western Front to inspect the situation and punish incompetent officers."

Wang Zhong frowned. He knew that the higher-ups were planning to use the reputation of "White Horse General" to stabilize the morale of the army, but——

Wang Zhong: "Are you sure you want to give me this appointment? After I arrive at the Western Front Headquarters, many people will be scared to death."

Olga smiled and said: "This is the goal of this appointment. If they are frightened to death, the officers of the aristocratic faction can't say anything. But remember, for Tukhachev and others, let them come back first and pass the procedures. They must be convicted in a just way and cannot be killed directly like last time.”

Wang Zhong raised his eyebrows: "As ordered."

Olga urged: "Then you two should set off as soon as possible. The situation of the Western Front is not very good now. Even the front headquarters reported that there is obvious shaking."

Wang Zhong nodded.

General Gorky asked: "Are we two on the same plane? If we want to boost morale, it would be best for us to appear together."

Olga looked at Admiral Turgenev.

The admiral replied: "We have indeed put you on the same plane, and the escort is a MiG-11 from the 3th Destroyer Regiment."

Marshal Boris, chief of staff of the headquarters, added: "You should leave now. The plane is already waiting at Yebao Airport. It will land directly on the airstrip next to the front headquarters. After landing, you can immediately go to the front commander. department."

Wang Zhong and General Gorky responded in unison: "Yes."

Then the two left the imperial meeting together.

When leaving the house, General Gorky said directly to the palace guards: "Go and call me and Lieutenant General Rokossov's adjutants. We are about to set off."

The guards left in response, and Wang Zhong and General Gorky stood in front of the corridor window and chatted about their new appointments.

"We must first let the troops understand that it is not a large-scale attack and cannot mess up their position." General Gorky said.

Wang Zhong: "First tell the entire Western Front that General Gorky and General Rokossov are coming."

General Gorky shook his head: "I don't have such a high appeal as you, so I can just spread the word and go to the front line. Speaking of which, I saw the document you submitted for establishing a model division. I think this kind of elite division is very important in the work we are currently doing. It's useless in a war of this scale.

"Do you know how many casualties were recorded on the entire front in the past two days, excluding the Western Front that was launching an offensive?"

Wang Zhong told Vasily not to report casualty numbers very early on, because he still couldn't get used to such cold numbers.

So he answered truthfully: "I don't know."

General Gorky: "Six thousand five hundred people, this is a recorded casualty. Half of the division is gone at this time. Not to mention the attacking Western Front."

Wang Zhong: "So I will gather these elite divisions for use, and I will personally decide where they should be invested."

General Gorky curled his lips: "Then I look forward to your performance."

At this time, both adjutants arrived, so General Gorky waved his hand: "Let's go to the front line and see what's going on with the Western Front. Can't they actually tell that the enemy is not attacking on a large scale? It's unbelievable!"

(End of this chapter)